Another Word That Is Disappearing.

My kids have not heard the word. My young colleagues, they haven’t heard the word either.

For 100% comfort, my favourite shoe brand is Pavers! I wore beautiful court shoes when I was young, my exact size was a half size.

Later, I wore, flat suede slip-on ankle boots.

I have always love clogs, with leather uppers and the rest wooden.

I remember seeing the Queen in 1977, for her I bought and wore wedges and the laces were red white and blue, tied around my ankles and calf’s.

My favourite, shoe material is leather. In the past if new shoes were too tight, we would wet newspapers and shove them into the shoes for a few days, sometimes that would work, sometimes it wouldn’t. sometimes I would suffer with the pain, of the part of the shoe that rub and hurt me, for a day or two. Wrong footwear, new always leave a mark! That is if I wear them long enough.

I love shoes, as much as I love handbags, you can never have too many.

This year in the sale, I went to Boundary Outlet, I went solely to buy my new Pavers shoes and use my postcard that they had sent me, so that I could get 10% off the price.

I learnt from experience, that the best shoes, for me was not the one to buy, because the Velcro would soon wear off and my T bar shoes would not be secure, after a short time. That was last year.

This year I saw the perfect shoes, but I didn’t buy them, I bought instead, the lace up Pavers. As I tried them on, the tongue didn’t seem right and I pointed it out to the Sale Assistant. She said, “They are all hand made.” A few days later the tongue fell off!

I went back to the store, and chose another Pavers, I chose another Pavers, in a different colour, but less than a month after I had them, coming apart from the toe! At the part where the stitches are. I went back to the store, with my receipt and I bought a shoe that is now out of character for me at this age.

It was a risk, because they are not Pavers. They were stiff and hard, and I tried them on, and did ‘the walk,’ they are lace ups. The fitted beautifully and I love the quirky blue colour, with matching laces. I was well chuffed.

I went to my Mums for the day, there I wore them for the first time, was grateful for the slippers that I keep in my car! As the day wore on, my toe began to hurt, I was doubting myself that I maybe hadn’t bought the right size! Had I made a mistake? For the Velcro Pavers, T bar was there. Pavers shoes, they are SO comfortable, that when I have worn them all day at work, when I come home, I don’t need to put my slippers on. They are Very soft.

I reminded myself when I was at Mums, that new shoes don’t agree with me, the only shoes that are successful is Pavers, I do not need to ever break them in. They are bought broken in.

Because I had worn them the day before, enough for my toe to hurt, the next day, I had difficulty getting them on. I think my mind was afraid, but I really struggled. My finger was in the way, there was nothing to hold on to at the back. Eventually I got them on, it took about two very long minutes, I don’t have that sort of time to waste in the morning to get shoes on. Those two minutes add up!

There was no chance of taking them back. I had to act. I did think of using damp newspaper, but I didn’t want that to ruin them, if there was a possibility of it soaking through, but the beautiful leather is thick and very strong, with strong stitching all around the sole of the shoes, there was no earthly chance of them unravelling.

I went to my local supermarket and asked an older person if they had one, they didn’t. I asked at another supermarket if they also had one, they didn’t. it had gotten worse, trying to put them on each time, and the heel of my feet would hurt with the struggle.

The last time I was at my Mums, I couldn’t get them on at all, my feet has swollen slightly and I had visions of me leaving the ‘Care home,’ in my slippers and driving home in my slippers, that would have been a first for me.   I wasn’t doing my beautiful new shoes any good either. They were bending with the struggles.

I did google them, they didn’t seem expensive, some were some weren’t.

I knew exactly where to go. I made an extra special effort to go to the Town, it was on the top of my list. I went to an established shoe shop that also cut keys, shop.

I said to the man there, “Have you got a shoehorn?” He replied, “Yes,” And pointed them out to me at the front of his well-stocked, top-quality shop. He said, “The long one is for boots and the smaller one is for shoes.” I asked, “How much are they?” He said, “The long one is, “£5.50 and the smaller one is £3.50.” I said, “I will have the smaller one.” They were both metal!! I said, “I have never seen metal ones before, the ones I saw as a child were like tortoiseshell.” As I paid for it, I said to him, “I bet you don’t sell many?” He said, “I sell a lot of them, you have bought this one and now I have one left.” I added, “I’m surprised,” But with the suffering I had been through, I shouldn’t have been surprised.

I put them in my handbag, for there I would always find them when I needed them, for both my shoes and my hand bag is kept by the front door in the hall.

I went to work, later that day. My kids who are in their 20’s didn’t know what a shoehorn was nor did the young colleguge at work. So, I took it out my handbag and showed him. He had never heard the word in his life, he too is in his 20’s.

Another word, that is dying out, that my grandson will never know or hear.

Yesterday for Easter Sunday for Church was the first time I would use it, there was no instructions LOL, and as I looked at it, I had the ‘fear’ that it would hurt again, for I had grown accustom to expect the pain and the usual struggle. I looked at it carefully and I could see the slight smooth grove, so I knew which way to put it into my shoe, but would it work?

It worked beautifully, and in one second my shoe was on! It was amazing. And at just £3.50 it was a bargain. I would have paid more for it.

It was a relief. For Malta later this year, I will buy Pavers sandals. If its not broken, don’t fix it, I’m taking no chances.